The Dynamics Of Groupthink: The Cape Coral Experience

This research provides a case study and review of Groupthink literature. Groupthink theory was originated in1972 by Irving Janis and remains an area of scholarly debate. The primaryobjective of this paper is to research the effects of Groupthink in terms of beinga positive or negative force in business. Intodays dynamic business environment, many organizations are composed ofstakeholders with different objectives and different standards of what isethically right and wrong, and all environments have become diversified. Therefore, it takes an organization whichfosters effective leader involvement to ensure that employees maintain apositive outlook toward the organization. Research indicates that groupmentality can be positive or negative depending on leader involvement. This research compares and contrasts the effects of Groupthink utilizingliterature and a case example from the City of Cape Coral, Florida

Involvement of the RNA-binding protein ARE/poly(U)-binding factor 1 (AUF1) in the cytotoxic effects of proinflammatory cytokines on pancreatic beta cells

Aims/hypothesis: Chronic exposure of pancreatic beta cells to proinflammatory cytokines leads to impaired insulin secretion and apoptosis. ARE/poly(U)-binding factor 1 (AUF1) belongs to a protein family that controls mRNA stability and translation by associating with adenosine- and uridine-rich regions of target messengers. We investigated the involvement of AUF1 in cytokine-induced beta cell dysfunction. Methods: Production and subcellular distribution of AUF1 isoforms were analysed by western blotting. To test for their role in the control of beta cell functions, each isoform was overproduced individually in insulin-secreting cells. The contribution to cytokine-mediated beta cell dysfunction was evaluated by preventing the production of AUF1 isoforms by RNA interference. The effect of AUF1 on the production of potential targets was assessed by western blotting. Results: MIN6 cells and human pancreatic islets were found to produce four AUF1 isoforms (p42>p45>p37>p40). AUF1 isoforms were mainly localised in the nucleus but were partially translocated to the cytoplasm upon exposure of beta cells to cytokines and activation of the ERK pathway. Overproduction of AUF1 did not affect glucose-induced insulin secretion but promoted apoptosis. This effect was associated with a decrease in the production of the anti-apoptotic proteins, B cell leukaemia/lymphoma 2 (BCL2) and myeloid cell leukaemia sequence 1 (MCL1). Silencing of AUF1 isoforms restored the levels of the anti-apoptotic proteins, attenuated the activation of the nuclear factor-κB (NFκB) pathway, and protected the beta cells from cytokine-induced apoptosis. Conclusions/interpretation: Our findings point to a contribution of AUF1 to the deleterious effects of cytokines on beta cell functions and suggest a role for this RNA-binding protein in the early phases of type 1 diabete

Hadron formation in high energy photonuclear reactions

We present a new method to account for coherence length effects in a semi-classical transport model. This allows us to describe photo- and electroproduction at large nuclei (A>12) and high energies using a realistic coupled channel description of the final state interactions that goes beyond simple Glauber theory. We show that the purely absorptive treatment of the final state interactions can lead to wrong estimates of color transparency and formation time effects in particle production. As an example, we discuss exclusive rho^0 photoproduction on Pb at a photon energy of 7 GeV as well as K^+ production in the photon energy range 1-7 GeV.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, version published in Phys. Rev.

Induction of tolerogenic lung CD4+ T cells by local treatment with a pSTAT-3 and pSTAT-5 inhibitor ameliorated experimental allergic asthma

Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 inhibitors play an important role in regulating immune responses. Galiellalactone (GL) is a fungal secondary metabolite known to interfere with the binding of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription (pSTAT)-3 as well of pSTAT-6 dimers to their target DNA in vitro. Intra nasal delivery of 50 μg GL into the lung of naive Balb/c mice induced FoxP3 expression locally and IL-10 production and IL-12p40 in RNA expression in the airways in vivo. In a murine model of allergic asthma, GL significantly suppressed the cardinal features of asthma, such as airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophilia and mucus production, after sensitization and subsequent challenge with ovalbumin (OVA). These changes resulted in induction of IL-12p70 and IL-10 production by lung CD11c+ dendritic cells (DCs) accompanied by an increase of IL-3 receptor α chain and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase expression in these cells. Furthermore, GL inhibited IL-4 production in T-bet-deficient CD4+ T cells and down-regulated the suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS-3), also in the absence of STAT-3 in T cells, in the lung in a murine model of asthma. In addition, we found reduced amounts of pSTAT-5 in the lung of GL-treated mice that correlated with decreased release of IL-2 by lung OVA-specific CD4+ T cells after treatment with GL in vitro also in the absence of T-bet. Thus, GL treatment in vivo and in vitro emerges as a novel therapeutic approach for allergic asthma by modulating lung DC phenotype and function resulting in a protective response via CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells locall

Deficiency of Antioxidative Paraoxonase 2 (Pon2) Leads to Increased Number of Phenotypic LT-HSCs and Disturbed Erythropoiesis

Background. Long-term hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) reside in bone marrow niches with tightly controlled reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. ROS increase results into LT-HSC differentiation and stem cell exhaustion. Paraoxonase 2 (PON2) has been shown to be important for ROS control. Objectives. We investigate the effects of inactivation of the PON2 gene on hematopoietic cell differentiation and activity. Methods and Results. In young mice with inactivated Pon2 gene (Pon2-/-, -/- BM outcompeted WT BM at early time points. ROS levels were significantly increased in Pon2-/- whole BM, but not in Pon2-/- LT-HSCs. In more differentiated stages of hematopoiesis, Pon2 deficiency led to a misbalanced erythropoiesis both in physiologic and stress conditions. In older mice (>9 months), Pon2 depletion caused an increase in LT-HSCs as well as increased levels of granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (GMPs) and myeloid skewing, indicating a premature aging phenotype. No significant changes in ROS levels in old Pon2-/- LT- and short-term (ST-) HSCs were observed, but a significant reduction of spontaneous apoptotic cell death was measured. RNA-seq analysis in Pon2-/- LT-HSCs identified overrepresentation of genes involved in the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (Cxcr4) signaling, suggesting compensatory mechanisms to overcome ROS-mediated accelerated aging in hematopoietic progenitor cells. Conclusions. In summary, our current data indicate that PON2 is involved in the regulation of HSC functions

Shadowing in photo-production : role of in-medium hadrons

We study the effects of in-medium hadronic properties on shadowing in photon-nucleus interactions in Glauber model as well as in the multiple scattering approach. A reasonable agreement with the experimental data is obtained in a scenario of downward spectral shift of the hadrons. Shadowing is found to be insensitive to the broadening of the spectral functions. An impact parameter dependent analysis of shadowing might shed more light on the role of in-medium properties of hadrons.Comment: Title modified; version to appear in PRC, Rapid Communication

Nuclear data sensitivity and uncertainty assessment of sodium voiding reactivity coefficients of an ASTRID-like Sodium Fast Reactor

The EU 7th Framework ESNII+ project was launched in 2013 with the strategic orientation of preparing ESNII for Horizon 2020. ESNII stands for the European Industrial Initiative on Nuclear Energy, created by the European Commission in 2010 to promote the development of a new generation of nuclear systems in order to provide a sustainable solution to cope with Europe’s growing energy needs while meeting the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. The designs selected by the ESNII+ project are technological demonstrators of Generation-IV systems. The prototype for the sodium cooled fast reactor technology is ASTRID (standing for Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration), which building phase is foreseen to be initiated in 2019. The ASTRID core has a peculiar design which was created in order to tackle the main neutronic challenge of sodium cooled fast reactors: the inherent overall positive reactivity feedback in case of sodium boiling occurring in the core. Indeed, the core is claimed by its designers to have an overall negative reactivity feedback in this scenario. This feature was demonstrated for an ASTRID-like core within the ESNII+ framework studies performed by nine European institutions. In order to shift the paradigm towards best-estimate plus uncertainties, the nuclear data sensitivity analysis and uncertainty propagation on reactivity coefficients has to be carried out. The goal of this work is to assess the impact of nuclear data uncertainties on sodium boiling reactivity feedback coefficients in order to get a more complete picture of the actual safety margins of the ASTRID low void-core design. The nuclear data sensitivity analysis is performed in parallel using SCALE-TSUNAMI 3D and the newly developed GPT SERPENT 2 module. A comparison is carried out between both methodologies. Uncertainty on the sodium boiling reactivity feedbacks is then calculated using TSAR module of SCALE and the necessary safety margins conclusions are drawn

Shadowing in the nuclear photoabsorption above the resonance region

A model based on the hadronic fluctuations of the real photon is developed to describe the total photonucleon and photonuclear cross sections in the energy region above the nucleon resonances. The hadronic spectral function of the photon is derived including the finite width of vector-meson resonances and the quark-antiquark continuum. The shadowing effect is evaluated considering the effective interaction of the hadronic component with the bound nucleons within a Glauber-Gribov multiple scattering theory. The low energy onset of the shadowing effect is interpreted as a possible signature of a modification of the hadronic spectral function in the nuclear medium. A decrease of the $\rho$-meson mass in nuclei is suggested for a better explanation of the experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Rethinking naive realism

Perceptions are externally-directed - they present us with a mind-independent reality, and thus contribute to our abilities to think about this reality, and to know what is objectively the case. But perceptions are also internally-dependent - their phenomenal characters depend on the neuro-computational properties of the subject. A good theory of perception must account for both these facts. But Naive realism has been criticized for failing to accommodate the latter one. This paper evaluates and responds to this criticism. It first argues that a certain version of naive realism, often called “selectionism”, does indeed struggle with the internal-dependence of perceptions. It then develops an alternate version of naive realism which does not. This alternate version, inspired by an idea of Martin's, accommodates the internal-dependence of perceptions by recognizing the role that the subject's neuro-computational properties play in shaping perceptual phenomenology. At the same time, it retains the distinctive naive realist account of the external-directedness of perceptions